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SPECIAL REPORT 



]lm%m Stak loard of 




INDIGlSSTION IN CATTLE. 

FOR THE^^ 

INFORM A™F OF FARMERBm) STOCK FEEDERS 



OOi'IES Wllili BE FUBNI8HED UPON APPLICATION TO 



WM. SIMS, Secretary, 

TOPEKA, KANSAS. 



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TOPEKA rv,^c^'/(:^'j;;i,'e- :/ 

KANSAS PUBLISHING HOUSE: T. D. THACHER^STATE-WHWTER. 
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LIBRA-RY 

OF THE 

U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

Class 



SPECIAL REPORT 



OF THE 




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ON 



INDIGESTION IN CATTLE. 



FOR THE 



INFORMATION OF FARMERS AND STOCK FEEDERS. 



State Veterinarian's Office, 

ToPEKA, Kas., Nov. 29, 1S8G. 
Hon. Wm. Sims, Secretary State Board of Agriculture, Topcka, Kas.: 

Dear Sir — I have the honor to transmit herewith a special report 
on Indigestion in Cattle, with request that it be published for distribu- 
tion in the State. I do so for the reason that the losses from this trouble 
are so widespread that the demands for my services in investigating the 
numerous outbreaks cannot be met. 

I am, sir, your most obedient servant, 

A. A. HOLCOMBE, 

state Veterinarian.. 



Copies will be furnished on application to WM. SIMS, 

Secretary State Board of AgricidturCy 
Topeka, Kas. 



INDIGESTION IN CATTLE. 

Synonyms: — Dry Murrain; Bloody Murrain; Impaction of the Stomachs; Stomach 
Staggers; Maw-Bound; Enteritis. 



DEFINITION. 

Under the head of indigestion, I propose to treat of all those derange- 
ments of the digestive organs which are so common to cattle in this State. 
While the lesions produced by these complaints differ very materially, the 
symptoms of all are so closely grouped together, and the causes so nearly 
related, that to treat of each one separately would only serve to confound 
the readers for whom this report is intended. The object sought in present- 
ing this article to the public is to direct the attention of stock raisers to 
causes which produce these complaints, and the means and measures neces- 
sary to prevent them. 

Dry murrain is used to designate that condition in which marked con- 
stipation exists, without any organic disease of the digestive organs. When 
the discharges from the bowels are bloody, and they may be either hard or 
soft, the trouble is called bloody murrain. 

When the first stomach, or rumen, is packed with undigested food, the 
complaint is called impaction of the rumen (paunch). When this condi- 
tion is found in the third stomach it is called impaction of the manyply. 
( The second and fourth stomachs are never impacted.) Whenever from 
over-distension of the first or third stomachs, the functions of the brain are 
so deranged that the animal staggers in his gait, turns in a circle, or 
stumbles as he walks, the disease is known as stomach staggers. 

Maiu-bound means simply that the contents of the maw, or first stomach, 
are prevented from passing onward in the process of digestion ; in other 
words, it is impaction of the rumen. 

Enteritis, in the broad sense, is used to designate inflammation of the 
bowels, of the stomachs, or of both. 

GENERAL PREVALENCE OF THE DISEASE. 
The losses of cattle in this State, resulting from derangement of the digest- 
ive organs, undoubtedly exceed the losses produced by all other causes com- 
bined. While the disease is occasionally seen during the spring and summer 
months, it is most common during the autumn and winter; and while no 
part of the State is free from the complaint, it is most common in the great 
corn-raising counties. The general prevalence of the disease, and conse- 
quently of the mortality, is determined largely by the character of our 
seasons ; for upon these seasons the quality of our cattle-food greatly depends. 



CAUSES. 

The one great cause of indigestion in cattle, is the use of much dry and 
innutritions food throughout a great part of the year. An occasional case 
of acute indigestion, or of enteritis, will be found in animals kept on rich 
food; but these are exceptional cases, and the cause therefor is not always 
to be found in the nature of the food. 

Unfortunately, it is the custom in this State to feed stock cattle largely 
upon corn stalks which have been left to ripen in the fields, and upon grass 
which has been deprived of most of its nutritious qualities by reaching matur- 
ity before being made into hay. As is well known, when grass, wheat, rve, 
millet and corn are allowed to ripen on the ground, the stalk contains but 
little nutritious matter, being composed almost entirely of indigestible cellu- 
lose and woody fiber. Even the buffalo grass, which in times gone by was 
considered a superior article of winter food for cattle, has of late years lost 
much of its vaunted reputation, owing to the late autumn rains washing out the 
most of its nutritious elements. Such food, poor in heat-producing elements 
is not adapted to the proper maintenance of the functions of life. Not only 
is it deficient in quality, but by reason of its poverty it imposes an extra 
tax upon the digestive organs, in that they may extract from the mass the 
little nutriment which it may contain. Too often this expenditure of force 
in the process of digestion is greater than can be replaced by the small per- 
centage of matter utilized. The greater the supply of such food, the sooner 
does the digestive machine wear out. In other words, the ore is too poor to 
pay for the crushing. 

True it is that many cattle do manage to maintain an existence on such 
food until the spring grasses insure a new lease upon life, but surely there 
is no economy in such a poverty of condition. 

Another cause of indigestion is to be found in musty hay, straw, and 
fodder. Of thes;> three, musty straw, and particularly oat straw, is the most 
common. Musty fodder is .rather rare, for the reasons that but little corn 
is cut up, and when it is it is so ripe that little curing is required. Rotten 
corn when left in the fields at the time of gathering may prove productive 
of serious digestive derangements to cattle turned into the stalks to pasture. 
The small percentage, however, of such grain, gathered with the crop, is 
not likely to do any harm. But the refuse from cribs in which corn has 
been stored should never be used for food, since it is exceedingly dangerous, 
particularly to horses and cattle. 

As to whether the smut of corn is dangerous when eaten by cattle, seems 
to be an open question. The majority of the writers on the subject imagine 
that it is; and yet, in so far as I can learn, all experiments made in feeding- 
it, even in very large quantities for many days at a time, have been un- 
attended by any serious results. From my own observations, I am led to 
the conclusion that it is not poisonous, and that if it has any unfavorable 
influence on the animal eating it, this influence is limited solely to the 
tendency it may have to produce impaction. 



But a deticieiicy in the quantity and quality of the food supply, stands 
not alone as the cause of an excessive mortality among our stock cattle; 
want of shelter and poor water lend helping hands in this waste of wealth. 
Want of shelter is simply a waste of fuel, for the animal temperature must 
be maintained at the normal standard of 100°. If it falls much below this, 
the animal dies. To sustain this temperature requires the constant conver- 
sion of food into heat. If food is not supplied from without, the animal must 
fall back on his own store house of fat. Anything which increases the loss 
of body heat increases the demand for food. Exposure to bleak winds and 
low temperatures tend to exhaust the heat of the body, and this in turn 
proves dangei'ous by impairing all life functions, particularly that of diges- 
tion. These reasons in part account for the increased mortality among 
cattle which attends all our cold spells of winter. 

\yant of water is not less dangerous than want of food and shelter. 
About seventy pounds of water per day are required by a steer w'eighing a 
thousand pounds while kept on good food. Very rich food may be digested 
with a lesser quantity. The more dry and innutritions the food, the greater 
must be the su])ply of water. Corn stalks and poor prairie hay require the 
consumption of from ninety to one hundred pounds of water per day for 
each animal of a thousand pounds. This immense amount of water must 
be raised to the temperature of the animal before it becomes a part of him- 
self in the intricate processes of life. This can only be done by the ex- 
penditure of animal heat, which must be replaced primarily by the pro- 
cess of digestion. It follows, then, that the colder this supply of water, the 
greater is the task of heating it to the normal temperature of the body. In 
other words, very cold water for cattle in winter weather is a waste of food. 
And not only is it a waste of food, but it is also detrimental to digestion, 
for it largely arrests this function until the water has reached the tempera- 
ture of the body. Instinctively the unsheltered brute drinks sparingly of 
very cold water in winter weather — a precaution not always unattended 
by danger, for it may excite a fatal impaction of one or both the stomachs. 

A deficient supply of water is detrimental for still another reason ; for 
without an ample quantity the nutritive elements cannot be extracted from 
the food, and as a consequence they are wasted by passing out of the body 
unused. At the same time, a stint in the water supply makes the process 
of chewing the cud slow, laborious, and often incomplete. 

That the watev supply, then, should be pure, plentiful, accessible, and not 
too cold in winter, must be apparent to all who give the matter thought. 

Lastly, in this connection, it would seem that no argument should be nec- 
essary to prove that the owner is amply compensated for the care which he 
may give his animals; and yet there is so much wealth lost each year in 
cattle that die for the want of proper food and shelter, one is forced to the 
conclusion that too many owners are imbued with the idea that the border 
line of starvation is the economical high road to success in raising stock. 
From this belief, or at least from this practice, I emphatically dissent. It 



is not right, it is not just to the dumb brute, and it is not economical, to 
meanly care for the animal, which by virtue of its circumstances is deprived 
of the opportunity to care for itself. 

SYMPTOMS. 

The symptoms of deranged digestion in cattle are most characteristic. 
They vary of course within certain limits, according to the organ most af- 
fected, and the nature of the derangement. No one case will present all of 
the symptoms here enumerated, but the presence of several of the more 
prominent ones will enable anyone who is closely observant to make a diag- 
nosis. The greatest losses occur from turning cattle into stalk fields, and 
the symptoms in these cases generally appear within a few hours after the 
animals have gratified their appetites. It is quite common to find one or 
more of a bunch dead the next morning after their first experience in the 
stalks. At other times no sick ones are seen for two or three days, and even 
a week or ten daj's may elapse before the last will sicken from a single meal 
made in the stalk fields. In one outbreak which I saw this fall, of 27 ani- 
mals turned in the stalks one afternoon 14 were dead within 26 hours. In 
another, 6 died during the first night; in another, 14 died in 10 days, and 
three were sick; in another, 11 out of 23 died within two weeks; and in 
still another, 23 out of 47 died within four weeks. These are by no means 
exceptional examples. 

When an animal has been kept for a long time on poor, coarse food, the 
symptoms are more slowly developed and death not so sudden. In these 
cases the animal grows poor, the bones stick out, the flanks tuck up, the 
back is arched, the coat is rough and wiry; the limbs are weak, and exposure 
causes a severe fit of shivering. An attack of indigestion is now ushered in 
by a loss of appetite, a failure to chew the cud, a dull, sunken, staring ap- 
pearance of the eyes, a more or less discharge of saliva from the mouth, 
grinding of the teeth, trembling of the muscles — particularly in the flank — 
knuckling of the hind fetlocks, stumbling over slight inequalities of the 
ground, unsteadiness of the hind parts when walking, straining to pass 
manure, which is lijird, dark colored, and generally covered with shreds of 
mucus, and often spots of blood; the frequent passage of small quantities 
of urine, complete paralysis, and death. In some cases, the first thing- 
noticed is that the animal leaves the herd and stands by himself, refusing 
to eat or drink. In others, he stands with head erect, the eyes glaring, ready 
to run at anything which comes near him. In others, he stands and bawls 
at frequent intervals. Or he may have repeated spasms, in which he falls 
to the ground, where he remains until the fit has passed, when he arises as 
if nothing had happened. In other cases, the first symptom seen is a wild 
rubbing of the head or hind quarters against a post or tree. The itching is 
so intense in many of these cases, that the hair is rubbed ofl" and the skin 
lacerated, until the blood flows freely. For some unknown reason, the right 
side of the head at the base of the horn or root of the ear, is the part most 



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often injured in this manner. In some cases the hind fetlock joints are torn 
with the teeth. In some the animal has spells of complete blindness, during 
which he stumbles around and over objects like a drunken man. In many 
instances they persist in turning around in a small circle. Some hunt for 
water, and wliile they rarely diink much, often die in the stream or on its 
banks. Some will wander aimlessly around or stray miles away and die. 
Some have rigid contractions of the muscles of the neck and back, so that 
they cannot place the head to the ground. Some seem to improve after two 
or three days' illness, then relapse and die. Many die in from two to ten 
hours' time, while others live for as many days. Some bloat before or shortly 
after death, while many never bloat at all. While the majority of cases 
have the most marked constipation, with more or less colicky pains, some 
have diarrhoea. The young as well as the aged are alike susceptible. As 
a rule, the heartiest eaters are the first to sicken and die. The mortality is 
very great, as but few recover from an attack. 

POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES. 
When a number of animals have been turned into stalk fields, and the 
next morning from one to ten jier cent are found dead, a post-mortem will 
show the first stomach filled with a great mass of fodder which is only 
slightly masticated. The third stomach is filled with dry food, often so dry 
that it will crumble like ashes. This, in many instances, is all that can be 
found. In cases which live longer, and in which dry fodder has been the 
only food for some time, the first stomach often contains a great mass of 
fodder, corn husks, coarse grass, etc., so entangled that it can scarcely be 
torn apart. This condition of the food of course prevents it from being 
raised in the form of a cud for rechewing, and as a cgnsec^uence it remains 
in the stomach as a foreign body which cannot escape, until it causes death. 
In other instances the condition of the first stomach will be found normal, 
with the exception of patches of congested mucous membrane. The third 
stomach may tlien be found packed with very dry food, or it too may be in 
apparent healthy condition. In these cases the fourth or true stomach is 
found with a uniformly reddened mucous membrane, oi; with great patches 
congested and inflamed. If this stomach is healthy in appearance the in- 
testines are the seat of inflammatory changes. They may present dark-red 
or purple patches confined to the lining membrane, or the whole substance 
of the intestine may be discolored and blackened. The liver is often spotted 
and very easily torn, while in nearly all cases where impaction is present 
the gall bladder will be found distended with a thick fluid. This distension 
may be so great that all the tissues seem to be discolored with the brownish- 
yellow pigment of the bile. The kidneys are often congested. The lower 
bowels generally contain dry masses of manure coated with mucus and blood. 
The lung on the side next to the ground at the time of death is always 
black from engorgement with blood. The other lung is often spotted with 
congested patches. The windpipe rimy be filled with a frothy mucus. The 



heart is often bloodshot on the outer as well as on the inner surface. The 
heart sac often contains an excess of fluid varying from one to sixteen ounces 
in quantity. Occasionally this fluid (;ontains a mass of coagulated febrin. 
Quantities of fluid of the same character may be found in the chest. The 
cavities of the heart sometimes contain a dense clot of blood which is 
whitish in color near the center. The bladder is often distended to its ut- 
most with urine. 

My post-mortem examinations of the brain and spinal coi'd have not been 
extensive enough to warrant a conclusion as to the changes which may gen- 
erally be found in these organs. In those cases, however, where the patient 
has been wild and viciously disposed, followed later by complete loss of sensi- 
bility, I have found the brain congested. Where the hind parts first showed 
loss of power, the spinal cord in the lumbar region showed slight congestion 
and some effusion of a clear fluid into the canal. In old cases where the 
disease has lasted for several days, and where the cause was to be attributed 
to the long-continued use of coarse, innutritions food, the post-mortem ap- 
pearances have been most interesting. In these cases the subject may have 
carried a fair amount of tlesh, but the ])ost-mortem reveals an entire absence 
of fat among the muscles, around the heart, kidneys, on the intestines, and 
in the bones. In place of fat, however, is found an amber-colored, gela- 
tinous matter, which is clearly transparent. The bones were brittle, and 
could easily be cut to pieces with a knife. The bone cells or cavities were 
filled with the peculiar gelatinous matter. On opening the spinal canal the 
spinal cord, in those cases where paralysis of the hind parts was marked, 
was atrophied and white, and surrounded in the lumbar region by the same 
gelatinous matter as found in other parts. 

That paralysis of the digestive organs happens in many of the cases of 
indigestion, particularly where the rumen and manyply are' packed with 
food, I believe is true. It seems to me that this only will explain the cause 
of many of the early deaths in some outbreaks. If derangement of the or- 
gans of digestion can so readily produce paralysis of the hind limbs, it is 
fair to presume that this paralysis might begin at the seat of the primary 
trouble. The cause and nature of the lesions of the nervous system, how- 
ever, deserve a further investigation and study. 

TREATMENT. 
The treatment of but few diseases is attended with such unsatisfactory 
results as this one. No matter what measures are resorted to but few of 
these cases recover. The indications for treatment, however, demand that 
the digestive organs shall be relieved of all indigestible matter, and for this 
purpose a full dose of physic is administered, consisting of — 
Epsom salts, 1 ^ lbs. Ginger, 2 oz. 

Nux vomica, 2 drachms. Warm water, 2 gallon. 

Four hours afterward give Ij pints of raw liniseed oil. To stimulate 



the stomachs to a performance of their functions, give every two or three 

hours — 

Aromatic spirits of aEamonia, 2 oz. Cayenne pepper, i oz. 
Salt, 1 oz. , Water, 1 quart. 

If the animal will not drink freely, he should be drenched with tepid 
water every four hours. The food should consist of oat meal, corn meal, or 
bran slops. The bowels should be relieved by frequent injections of Avarm 
water. If the first stomach is filled with food, a veterinary surgeon should 
be called in to remove the matter by opening the flank. If the stomach is 
extended with gas, it should be tapjjed upon the left side with a trocar. If 
the abdominal pains are severe, they may be relieved by 2-oz. doses of lau- 
danum, repeated every four hours. If the patient is on full feed, and the at- 
tack is acute, the oil only should be used as a j^hysic, and the stimulants 
may be^omitted from the treatment. Diarrhtea may be present, and yet the 
stomachs may be impacted so that the diarrhcea alone is not a contra-indi- 
cation for the use of full doses of physic. 

In this, as in all diseases, the main object sought should be the preveyition 
of cases. Coarse, dry, innutritions food should never constitute the exclu- 
sive diet of cattle. If the hay is poor, corn, bran, sorghum, or millet should 
be added. Sorghum is not only palatable, but by reason of the large per- 
centage of juice which it contains tends to overcome any disposition to con- 
stipation. If corn stalks are to be used, they should be cut before they are 
ripe, and cured in the shock. If they are to be pastured in the field, see to 
it that the cattle are not turned in until they are well filled with other food 
and water. A hungry animal should never be turned into a stalk field. 
Let the cattle have daily access to a mixture of salt, Epsom salts, and salt- 
petre, mixed in the proportion of 45, 45, and 10, respectively. 

A. A. HOLCOMBE, State Veterinarian. 



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